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Fortune-teller Told Me

Earthbound Travels in the Far East

By Tiziano Terzani

(14)

| Paperback | 9780006550716

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Book Description

It was 1976 when Tiziano Terzani was warned by the fortune-teller in Hong Kong: "Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. You mustn't fly that year. Don't fly, not even once." Sixteen years later, Terzani had not forgotten. Despite living the life of a jet-hopping journalist, he decided that, Continue

It was 1976 when Tiziano Terzani was warned by the fortune-teller in Hong Kong: "Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. You mustn't fly that year. Don't fly, not even once." Sixteen years later, Terzani had not forgotten. Despite living the life of a jet-hopping journalist, he decided that, after a lifetime of sensible decisions, he would confront the prophecy the Asian way, not by fighting it, but by submitting. He also resolved that on the way he would seek out the most eminent local oracle, fortune-teller or sorcerer and look again into his future. So after a feast of red ant egg omelet and a glass of fresh water, he brought the new year in on the back of the elephant. He even made it to his appointments--Cambodia to cover the first democratic elections; Burma, for the opening of the first road to connect Thailand and China; and even Florence to visit his mother, a trip that would take him 13,000 miles across Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia and Siberia. In this way, the jet-hopping journalist rediscovered the art of travel, the intricate chains of chance which lead to discovery, and the mass of humanity he'd overlooked in his rush for newsworthy quotes. And he also saved his life. Terzani's odyssey across Asia is full of revelations and reflections on the dramatic changes underway in Asia. Having spent two decades on the continent, he brings a deep love for the place to his journeys, but also the eyes of someone troubled by the changes he sees. Burma and Laos, finally open to outside contact, are now funnels for AIDS and drugs; Thailand has been traumatised by its rapid development; China is an anarchy fuelled by money rather than ideology and Mao has been transformed into the God of traffic. Surrounded by the loss of diversity wrought by modernism, Terzani asks if the "missionaries of materialism and economic progress" aren't destroying the continent in order to save it. Fortunately, there is a flip side to his occasionally dispiriting commentary, which Terzani discovers in his hunt for fortune-tellers. Through his side trips to seers who read the soles of his feet, the ashes of incense, even the burned scapula of sheep, it becomes clear that the Orient of legends, myths and magic still determines people's lives as much as the quest for money. By staying earthbound, Terzani lived to tell of an extraordinary journey through the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of Asia.--Lesley Reed

Critics

  • A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East By Tiziano Terzani

    The mental connection one makes with a travel writer can sometimes be quirky. The author is (unless you have serious armchair time) an inconstant companion on an often imaginary or vicarious journey; his opinions or observations are immune to your de ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

2 Reviews

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  • 2 people find this helpful

    A fortune-teller told me

    I always find it interesting to understand our own culture from 'outside' perspective. and this book makes me believe that the author does care to know what really is about Asia, its culture, its development, though it's bit cynical, too much at times, and harsh, and direct. Sometimes I hate him to ... (continue)

    I always find it interesting to understand our own culture from 'outside' perspective. and this book makes me believe that the author does care to know what really is about Asia, its culture, its development, though it's bit cynical, too much at times, and harsh, and direct. Sometimes I hate him to be so right about my people. Following his way travelling around Asia and part Europe to look for the local best fortune-teller, I am in the middle of it, amused.
    and now I finished, it was such a wonderful reading experience in a way that it seems that I had this conversation, sometimes argument with the author.Strongly recommended to those who welcome a differnent way of travelling and living. it keeps my mind spinning with grooving ideas,about travelling, about development, about materialism,about destination...'travel makes sense only if you come back with an answer in your baggage.' if reading is like travelling, I at least hold a bag during the trip.

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    ymm said on Aug 2, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • a beautiful book, a pleasant reading, following the author which describes how a curse has been transformed into a regenerating discovery in a disappearing world more a more flattened, where the point of travelling is in the journey itself and not in the arrival.
    I’m very grateful to Tiziano Te ... (continue)

    a beautiful book, a pleasant reading, following the author which describes how a curse has been transformed into a regenerating discovery in a disappearing world more a more flattened, where the point of travelling is in the journey itself and not in the arrival.
    I’m very grateful to Tiziano Terzani, because his book gave me some peace and relax. He’s a true traveller, and after reading his book I felt as I’d been his travelling companion. Beautiful, three times beautiful.

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    Albe said on Jun 9, 2008 | Add your feedback

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